In 2015, a new offence of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress (‘revenge porn’) was introduced under Section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. This is a ‘triable either way’ offence, and those convicted face a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

In “Criminal justice system statistics quarterly: December 2016”, some summary offences relating to sending offensive/threatening messages under Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 were incorrectly presented within this offence. This was a result of a mapping inconsistency during production of the bulletin, and affects figures for the calendar years 2015 and 2016.

Figures for ‘disclose private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress’ were overstated by the amounts shown in the tables below, and in turn ‘summary offences under the Malicious Communications Act 1988’ were understated by the same amounts.

Consequently, total figures presented for violence against the person offences and summary non-motoring offences are also affected by the same amounts.

The corrected figures for defendants prosecuted and offenders convicted and the differences are in the tables below:

| Offence code | Offence detailed group | Offence type | Offence group | Year | Original | Corrected | Difference | |--------------|------------------------|--------------|---------------|------|----------|-----------|------------| | 008/71 | 8.19 Disclose private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress | TEW | Violence against the person | 2015 | 271 | 82 | -189 | | | | | | 2016 | 300 | 267 | -33 | | 195/41 | 195 Malicious Communications Act - Sending letters etc. with intent to cause distress or anxiety | SNM | Summary Non-Motoring | 2015 | 560 | 749 | 189 | | | | | | 2016 | 42 | 75 | 33 |

The figures given in these tables relate to defendants for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. Offenders convicted

| Offence code | Offence detailed group | Offence type | Offence group | Year | Original | Corrected | Difference | |--------------|------------------------|--------------|---------------|------|----------|-----------|------------| | 008/71 | 8.19 Disclose private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress | TEW | Violence against the person | 2015 | 221 | 64 | -157 | | | | | | 2016 | 250 | 228 | -22 | | 195/41 | 195 Malicious Communications Act - Sending letters etc. with intent to cause distress or anxiety | SNM | Summary Non-Motoring | 2015 | 400 | 557 | 157 | | | | | | 2016 | 57 | 79 | 22 |

The figures given in these tables relate to defendants for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

Please see the accompanying spreadsheet (Erratum – data.csv) for a more detailed breakdown of corrected figures.

Due to the nature of this mapping error, this correction will affect several tables and tools published alongside the “Criminal justice system statistics quarterly: December 2016” publication. These are listed below. These products have not been revised because the change is relatively small at an aggregate level. Full updated and corrected data will be available alongside the “Criminal justice system statistics quarterly: December 2017” publication, due to be published 17 May 2018.

**Products affected:**

Overview tables

Criminal justice statistics outcomes by offence tool

Prosecutions and convictions tool

Remands – magistrates’ tool

Sentencing tool

Magistrates’ court tool

Experimental statistics – proceedings and outcomes by Home Office offence code

This revision is in accordance with Principle 2 of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics which requires all producers of Official Statistics to publish transparent guidance on revisions. The Ministry of Justice aims to avoid the need for revisions to publications unless they are absolutely necessary and has put systems and processes in place to minimise the number of revisions.